


to show you the horror of staying alive

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: the odds were never in our favor [3]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Avoxes, District 13, Forced Marriage, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Nightmares, No Incest, Past Drug Addiction, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Propaganda, Rebellion, also I mean technically katniss is here too, and is still the mockingjay, but i am still not shipping any Hargreeves sibs together, but the focus is really the hargreeves, but this story does feature the return of someone else, like they're not even related in this 'verse, reginald hargreeves is president snow, some of your favs will die, the handler is president coin, the hargreeves siblings are past victors, things get worse before they get better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-15 21:33:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18081281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: There is a certain amount of respect that Five, Diego, and Klaus have around the base. It's nothing close to the awe that Katniss gets, but the fact that they survived their Games- that they survived the Capitol- it means a lot to the rebels."Sometimes I don't think I deserve it," Klaus says to Diego and Five one night before nightfall.Diego nods, completely understanding. "We just did what we had to in order to survive. It's not some great feat."Klaus snorts. "Says the guy with six kills.""As the guy with ten kills," Five says, "I'd say that both of you guys did a really good job staying alive, and that you deserve the respect you've earned.""Nothing clever compared to you, though," Klaus says.Five shrugs. "Can't really compare to the master, can you?"There is something hard in Five's gaze, the same kind of flint that so many Victors emerge from the Games with. In the Games, everyone goes mad in their own way. Some people break, some harden, some turn to drugs to cope with the way their world shatters. Five went hard. Diego went hard on the outside and broke on the inside. Klaus turned to drugs.Now, during the rebellion, they are turning that madness into power.





	to show you the horror of staying alive

**Author's Note:**

  * For [felinedetached](https://archiveofourown.org/users/felinedetached/gifts).



> Title is from "The Torture Tango" from the musical Spies Are Forever.
> 
> For every poor soul who asked for a happy ending, well, that's not this fic. But if you asked for more suffering for our dear characters, then have I got the fic for you!
> 
> Once again, quick review of the Hargreeves and their backgrounds:  
> District 1: Allison, won the 67th Games by forming alliances and backstabbing everyone (one time literally)  
> District 2: Luther, won the 65th Games by brute strength and utilizing the metal spikes that rained from the sky at night  
> District 3: Five, won the 71st Games by using the mines around the Cornucopia to take out the enitre Career pack ont he second day (youngest Victor in memory, won at age 12)  
> District 5: Vanya, won the 73rd Games by manipulating the power source on the tundra-like Arena to divert all warmth to her  
> District 8: Ben, oldest Victor among 7, won the 58th Games by feeding his female partner poison berries and strangling a girl to death while feverish and delirious (later was Klaus' mentor)  
> District 8: Klaus, won the 69th Games by hiding and sneaking around in the cave-Arena at night, waited for mutts to take out all competitors (made living in Capitol by selling his body after the Games)  
> District 10: Diego, won the 63rd Games by the use of his knife and knowledge of weak spots on a body
> 
> Klaus, Ben, Diego, Five, and Vanya were Reaped for the 3rd Quarter Quell, while Allison and Luther volunteered. Katniss was the sole Victor of the 74th Games as Peeta wasn't Reaped, and thus she and Haymitch were the tributes from District 12.
> 
> Backstory done? Cool. Enjoy!

_It's not the song, it is the singing_

_It's the heaven of a human spirit ringing_

_It is the bringing of the line_

_It is the bearing of the rhyme_

_It's not the waking, it's the rising_

_And I could cry power_

_Power has been cried by those stronger than me_

_Straight into the face that tells you_

_To rattle your chains if you love being free_

**_-Hozier,_ Nina Cried Power**

 

In Diego's dreams, they all make it out as a team. Him, Five, Klaus, Ben, Allison, Luther, and Vanya- they all live, making it out of the Quell.

There is no trap that slices Allison's throat. There is no Ben or Vanya running off in the hours before Katniss destroys the Arena. There is no Luther staying by Allison's side, refusing to join Five, Klaus, and Diego in helping Katniss.

In his dreams, they all make it to District 13, a bit bruised, a bit battered, but still alive and together.

But then Diego wakes up, and he remembers what happened. He remembers all the disasters that happened in the last hours in the Arena, the ways the plan unravelled, the fact that the only friends he has left are Five and Klaus.

He remembers the fact that he has no idea what happened to Allison, Luther, Ben, or Vanya, that none of them ever got a cannon in the Games but that they were nowhere to be found on the hovercrafts that picked up Five, Klaus, Diego, Finnick, and Katniss at the end of the Quell, after the lightning strike and the arrow into the forcefield. 

(Sometimes, Diego wishes he never has to wake up.)

-

A week into their stay in District 13, Five, Diego, and Klaus get to meet Claire. She's living in the orphanage with a number of other kids from the non-13 Districts, and Klaus is allowed in without much of a security check at all. Apparently his status as Victor pretty much gives him free rein of all the civilian areas in the District. President Handler doesn't want the Victors- respected by the rebels, not beloved- to be seen as untrusted, after all.

Klaus bends down next to Claire, who's only about five-years-old. "Nice to meet you, honey," he says, offering her a smile he hasn't used since he was happy back in District 8, when Ben and Dave both lived with him and he had a family he could guarantee the lives of. "I'm Klaus. Has your mom ever mentioned me?"

She nods her head vigorously, curly hair bouncing. "You're one of her best friends, she said."

Well, that hits somewhere deep in Klaus' chest, digging just as deeply as the rocks scraped against his chest in his first Arena.

"Do you like it here?" Klaus asks, and Claire nods. "Well, what do you like about it?"

"It's not as comfortable as Mom's house in the Village, but I didn't have any friends at home. I have friends here."

Well what a coincidence- so does Klaus. "Has your mom ever mentioned Five or Diego?"

Claire smiles at him. "Just as much as she mentions you, Mr. Klaus."

Klaus knows how much Allison loves her daughter, and he cares about Allison, and with her gone Claire has no one else. He can't help but care about this little girl with no one else in the world, just as alone as him and the rest of his Victor family.

"Would you like it if we visited you every few days until your mom gets back?"

Claire grins and runs at him, almost bowling him over with the force of her hug. "I'd love that, sir," she says, perfectly mannered, and Klaus smiles into her curls.

"You don't have to call me 'sir,' Claire. Just call me Klaus."

"Can I call you Uncle Klaus?" Claire asks with her bright smile, and Klaus nearly melts. He considers his six allies from the arena a sort of dysfunctional, distant family, but he never would have thought that it was reciprocated from anyone save Ben and maybe Diego.

"Only if you call Five and Diego your Uncles as well."

"That sounds like fun!" Claire says, and Klaus smiles, imagining the looks on Five and Diego's faces.

"I couldn't help but agree." 

-

There is a certain amount of respect that Five, Diego, and Klaus have around the base. It's nothing close to the awe that Katniss gets, or even the fawning over Finnick, but the fact that they survived their Games- that they survived the Capitol's Arena- it means a lot to the rebels.

"Sometimes I don't think I deserve it," Klaus says to Diego and Five one night before bed. They share bunks in the same room as Katniss, Peeta, their District-mate Gale, Finnick, and Annie, who take the five remaining beds in the room. It's a little cramped, but there is a certain amount of privacy it allows their group from people who don't understand the press of the Arena, the knowledge that their life cost that of at least twenty-three other children. No one in this room will judge for what Klaus says- they're either Victors, or they at least try to understand. Peeta's dating Katniss, after all, and Gale's her best friend.

Diego nods, completely understanding. "We just did what we had to in order to survive. It's not some great feat."

Klaus snorts. "Says the guy with six kills."

"As the guy with  _ten_ kills," Five says, "I'd say that both of you guys did a really good job staying alive, and that you deserve the respect you've earned." He gives Klaus a small smirk. "Even you, Klaus. Pulling off what you did in your Arena was rather clever and took a lot of strength to stay quiet for that long." 

"Nothing clever compared to you, though," Klaus says to Five.

Five shrugs. "Can't really compare to the master, can you?"

There is something hard in Five's gaze, the same kind of flint that so many Victors emerge from the Games with. In the Games, everyone goes mad in their own way. Some people break, some harden, some turn to drugs to cope with the way their world shatters. Five went hard. Diego went hard on the outside and broke on the inside. Klaus turned to drugs.

Now, during the rebellion, they are turning that madness into power.

-

Katniss Everdeen, the stoic Victor from 12, has become the symbol of hope for the Rebellion. She becomes the Mockingjay, taking up her role as the Girl on Fire. In District 13, she finds her boyfriend Peeta and her sister and mother, all of which escaped the District 12 firebombings. She finds hope and family, and she smiles more than Klaus ever saw her smile during either Games, her Victory Tour, or any of her time spent in the Capitol.

But the other remaining Victors- Five, Klaus, Diego- they take up roles in the Rebellion. Five helps create bombs for the Rebellion, helps figure out the weaknesses in the Capitol’s defenses. Diego joins the army, within a specialized squad for Victors, playing background players to Katniss alongside fighters like Finnick and friends of Katniss’.

And Klaus? Well, he spends his first few weeks dealing with the aftermath of going cold-turkey on a years-long addiction.

Fighting an addiction in District 13 is at once easy and incredibly difficult. On the one hand, staying sober's easy when there are no drugs, but on the other hand, withdrawal's a bitch. Klaus curls up in his bunk most nights, limbs shaking, unable to satiate his cravings.

But fuck it, he's going to do this. Klaus is a Victor and a survivor. He knows nothing but the endless cycle of pushing your body through things it never should have been able to survive.

And besides, he owes it to all the dead and the missing to pull himself out of his addiction and into a functioning state. He has to start contributing to the Rebellion as soon as possible.

-

The propos from the Capitol start a few weeks into their stay in District 13, and they are all forced to watch as Allison and Luther show up on the screens from the Capitol, postures stiff as Caesar announces their upcoming wedding and "the celebration of their love as a way to inspire the nation in the face of the terrorist attacks."

"Why the fuck is there going to be a wedding?" Diego hisses even as his heart heaves a sigh of relief at the fact that he has proof that at least two more

"Propaganda efforts," Five says as Luther rattles off an answer, smile not believable to Diego, Five, or Klaus, but the kind of fake grin that any Victor learns how to pull off.

As the interview progresses, Diego comes to realize, to his horror, that Allison is mute- she doesn't say a word for the whole transmission, just stands behind Luther's seat with an intricate white collar wrapped around her throat, attached to a long-sleeved white evening gown that covers her skin. (A wedding gown, disturbing as that is.) 

"One of the traitors did that to you, didn't they?" Caesar asks Allison, gesturing to her throat, and Allison nods, looking him straight in the eye.

"Yes, they did," Luther says, and it looks like he's biting back an argument.

The non-Victors don't seem to realize that, though. "They betrayed us," Gale says, still so young, still having such ideals. The boy's brave and strong and intelligent, but he has no idea of the kind of things that President Hargreeves will force people to do.

"No, they didn't," Klaus says, voice strong, and Diego couldn't be prouder of his friend finally finding a backbone. "They're still in that Arena. They're just trying to survive the Capitol. You learn to do what you have to in order to make it through, to survive life under President Hargreeves."

Diego glances at Katniss and Finnick, and Katniss' face is stoic while Finnick's is understanding. Diego knows that Finnick survived life in the Capitol the same way Klaus and Allison did, that he knows just how far a Victor will go to survive. He knows that President Hargreeves must have already started to blackmail Katniss, the day she exited the Arena for the 74th Games.

Every Victor knows what it takes to keep surviving, to keep themselves and those they love from falling down their own minds back into the Arena and into destruction.

Ben's mentor Laila committed suicide. Johanna Mason's family died in a purposeful fire when she refused to sell her body. Klaus' lover died when he quit being the Capitol's whore. 

No one survives going against the Capitol when you're in their reach. Allison and Luther- they're still playing those Games. It's just like Klaus said- they're still in that Arena.

And all Diego can do is fight this rebellion and pray they make it home from these last, dangerous Games.

-

Five has no qualms about collateral damage when it comes to the Rebellion. 

He has no family back home in Three- Dolores died last year from the Fever- and the people he cares about are the Victors he’s gotten to know over the past three years. The six people he wants to return home, whatever that might be after this is all over with- Ben and Klaus, gentle and kind, Vanya and Allison, quietly dangerous, and Luther and Diego, weapons who are dedicated to protecting those they love.

All Five wants in life is to keep those six people safe and an end to the Capitol's reign of terror. Actually, to be more accurate, he wants the six people he cares about safe and the only way to accomplish that is to end the Capitol, so that's what Five's gonna do. Whatever comes along the way, whatever it takes to accomplish those goals- he doesn't give two shits about anything else.

Five dreams, sometimes, about those days in the Quell, when he'd had to finagle things so that the Girl on Fire could be seen by the cameras destroying the Arena. He dreams of the day she'd first stumbled upon his alliance, her and Finnick and Haymitch. She'd had her bow up and she'd nearly taken out Luther.

_"Not Luther," Five hisses, "Not if you value your life, Everdeen."_

_Haymitch smiles a crooked, knowing smile. Five knows that Haymitch has some idea of the Rebellion's plans, that he and that stylist who first lit Katniss on fire have had some plan cooking up for over a year now. "You've got a heart after all, Five," Haymitch says as Katniss lowers her bow slightly, and Five knows that he is right._

Five dreams of Allison and Luther, captured by the Capitol and surely tortured nowadays. He dreams of their screams, their skin mottled with bruises, blood staining their lips.

They appear on the screen, sometimes, Luther reciting the Capitol's words while Allison, famous for her shiny words, stands behind him with a hand on his shoulder, wearing dresses with stiff, high collars that cover the scar on her neck. Their eyes blaze with defiance, and every time one of the Mockingjay broadcasts breaks through their spines always seem to sit a bit straighter.

Five dreams of Vanya and Ben, missing from the Arena. The last he'd seen of them had been Ben running off with a promise that he had to fix something, and that had been four hours before the Arena had exploded. Vanya had left the group only half an hour before the lightning strike, going to forage for food and take a shit.

He doesn't know if they made it out. He doesn't know if he'll ever get to find out if they made it out. 

When Five wakes, though, he often finds one of the other Victors in the room are trapped in their own nightmares or have been awakened by their own terrible dreams.

They are no longer the only people who dream of war, here in District 13. There are plenty of people who experience nightmares of battle, of utter destruction. But for now, before they get to the Capitol, at least, people dream of gunshots and explosions, not the howl of mutts and the clash of blades. Those particular nightmares remain housed within the walls of the Victors' bunks, trapped in the minds of the Victors who often wake up gasping to find each other already awake, covered in the same nightmare-driven sweat.

-

Here in District 13, Klaus doesn't have to be a whore in order to survive. Here, he is not treated like a coveted object, like his body belongs to everyone but him, but rather like he is a person in himself. For the first time, being a Victor doesn't feel like a way to label him in his purpose as a Capitol toy, but rather as someone who is respected for being a survivor, who has proven himself.

But that doesn't mean he trusts everyone in District 13 to respect him like the general crowd seems to. Klaus has spent years in the Capitol- he's not a fool. Sure, he knows he tends to trust more than he should, but even he recognizes the cool gleam in President Handler's eyes. He knows that if he's not careful, he could end up doing something he doesn't want to.

But if Klaus is being honest, he knows that he has very few limits save the ones that the society around him impose. If he's asked to jump, he won't even ask how far. Klaus is a survivor. He is determined to do what it takes to survive, no matter the costs, to find a way to find his Mentor and little Vanya, save Allison and Klaus from the clutches of President Hargreeves, and somehow help Five and Diego save the Rebellion.

And he won't have to do it by being a whore. Here in the Rebellion, forcing someone into sex is seen as the crime it always should have been. He can do something productive that doesn't necessitate selling his body.

When Klaus shows up at the quarters for Katniss Everdeen’s squad- the one that Diego's been a part of for a month now- he gets a raised eyebrow from Katniss, a small smile from Diego, and looks of confusion from Katniss’ boyfriend and her best friend from back home.

“I want to join your squad,” Klaus says.

"You're a Victor, which means you're automatically granted admission," Katniss says, "Or at least that's what Five and President Handler told me."

Klaus shrugs. "No interview, no application process? Perfect."

Katniss gives him a small, almost flat smile that he only recognizes because he's spent years with Luther. "But I still want you to show me what you can do?"

Klaus lets out a mock-groan. "You mean you never watched the re-runs of my Games? Pity that."

While Peeta, Gale, and a few of the rebels stare incredulously at his blase attidude regarding one of the worst experiences of his life, Diego lets out a small snort. He knows fatalistic humor like everyone who's had to make their peace with working as a Mentor.

Katniss doesn't really react one way or another. Instead, she just says, "Your skills could have slipped. Show me what you've got."

Klaus grins. "I'll show off a little."

-

Diego can't really carry a tune, but he still sings along when Katniss'  _Hanging Tree_  song plays on the propos. Five and Klaus do too, for all Five's pretensions to apathy- Five hums under his breath while Klaus will lead whoever he's with, whether the orphanage kids or Katniss' squad, in a choral version of the song.

As he watches the propos, as he fights in District 8 and defends the hospitals, he feels a little of Katniss' fire fill him. He feels determination strengthen his bones in a way he hasn't felt since his Games.

Diego remembers the children he had to kill in the arena, the monster he became under the Capitol's rule. It was a game of survival, he knows, but it doesn't change the things he did, the way his knife sank into the flesh of boys and girls like it did the cows back in District 10. 

He became a killer for the Capitol, and now, he's going to take it down. He's going to make President Hargreeves pay for the monsters he made out of Diego and the other Victors, the damage he's wreaked on the Districts.

(He's gonna get his family back. He's gonna make sure everyone he loves gets a happy ending, and that President Hargreeves is going to pay for the damage he's done.)

-

Then that damn interview comes out, Allison and Luther speaking the Capitol's words while looking like they're on death's door, faces gaunt and somewhat bruised around the edges.

Allison is dressed in a white suit that curves in such a fashion to still resemble a wedding dress. A silver and white lace-like headpiece is wrapped around her head, moving down to enter the neck of her suit as an elaborate collar, with her characteristic golden-dyed curls spilling over the top as if to represent a crown over a veil. (Diego has to wonder how much damage is hidden up by her head-to-toe covering.)

Then there's Luther. If there's one thing that Luther is known for across Panem, it's his muscles. The white suit they have him in is pressed and polished, but it does little to cover up the fact that he's little more than skin and bones.

Katniss and Peeta look like they're going to be sick. Five, Klaus, and Diego, on the other hand, are used to the extremes that the Capitol can go to. To see their friends (their family, distant and loose though it may be) look like that- it's hard, but not unexpected.

Then one of Katniss'  _Hanging Tree_ propos interrupts the broadcast, and Five lets out a small  _whoop_. "We've finally broken through to the Capitol," he says, a smirk on his face, and Diego smiles. Now they're getting somewhere.

The interview falters, Allison and Luther glancing around like they see whatever's going on, and Caesar's familiar voice says, "But continuing on with that, Luther, do you mind telling us more about your and Allison's wedding plans?"

So Luther continues to speak, to answer, and Diego's eyes focus on Allison's hand on Luther's shoulder, the way her posture stays straight and her expression clear. Her lack of a voice, the strange headpiece- none of it makes much of a difference in her stage presence, as powerful as the day Allison gave her interview after her Victory.

Then the conversation shifts, and Diego can feel the tension rise. "Tell us about the terrorists, Luther," Caesar says, and Luther's expression shifts just slightly. 

"They're coming," Luther says, looking straight at the camera, and Klaus doesn't think that he's ever seen Luther that brave before. "No District is safe. Every district needs to guard itself against the terrorist attacks."

"Fuck, he's warning us," Five mutters, "That guy's far smarter than we give him credit for."

 _It's a warning-_ the words pound through Diego's head as Luther continues to speak, as he tries to piece together whatever Five has figured out.

Oh, fuck.  _No_ district is safe. District 13- Luther's warning them that the Capitol is going to attack District 13.

Okay, he can run with that. Coordinate everyone downstairs, wait out the blast, then reemerge and the Capitol will have wasted its resources.

But then everything goes to hell as the  _Hanging Tree_ propos play again, and this time it's not Katniss as Mockingjay that's showing on screen, but Diego chucking a knife through a Peacekeeper's uniform as Klaus helps kids out of the rubble, his rebel armor clear on his back. They're not the Mockingjay, but they're still Victors. They're still symbols in their own right.

And it's then that Luther finally breaks his Capitolite facade.

"Diego," Luther nearly shouts, his words rushing out, because he's always been closest to Diego than he has been anyone other than Allison, "They're coming for you, you have to get everyone underground-"

And then Luther is knocked to the floor by Peacekeepers, blood splattering across the tiles, and Allison raises three fingers in the air behind him, looking every inch the Victor, every inch the rebel. Something dark connects with her face, and then she's down as well.

Klaus screams as the screens go black, Diego lets out a small, strangled noise, and Five flinches forward, as if there is some way for him to somehow change events from here in the command center.

But there's nothing they can do.

 -

"You have to get them out of there," Klaus begs to anyone, to everyone, as the rebels descend into the lower levels and the world outside ends, because that's Claire's mom and a bunch of cats' father and his  _family_ up there, probably dying in the Capitol right now.

(Klaus and Diego and Five and Ben and Vanya and Luther and Allison are all each other have, save Claire. They are the only family each other have. They're a group of killers and monsters and survivors who are all each other has left.)

But no one seems to get that Allison and Luther were Careers, yes, but they hate the Capitol as much as any of the Rebels do. No one- President Handler, Plutarch, any of the top rebels- seem to understand why they have to save Allison and Luther.

Eventually though, after everyone's down in the lower levels, after the bombs stop going off up above ground, Five gets President Handler and Plutarch to agree to save Allison and Luther- and Johanna, and Haymitch, and the other Victors being kept alive but tortured in the Capitol. Little Five spins excuses about showmanship and propos and symbolism, but Klaus recognizes the desperation in his eyes. He knows what Allison and Luther mean to Five- it's the same that they mean to him.

"Thank you," Klaus whispers that night, when he and Diego and Five are curled up in sleeping bags beside the Everdeens, Gale, Peeta, Finnick, Annie, and Claire- who doesn't know what happened to her mother. No one can bear to tell her, and she doesn't need to know, not yet. Probably not ever, if Klaus can help it.

"You don't need to," Five says, and for just a moment, Klaus realizes how small Five is. Five has such a presence about him, such a genius intellect, (such a high kill count), that it's so easy to forget that he's just sixteen.

Now, though, in the dim light of this giant cavern that reminds Klaus so much of his Arena, Five looks as small as the tributes who got ripped apart by the mutts in Klaus' Games.

-

"Klaus South to the Command Center," Finnick's voice bleeps through Klaus' comm a week and a half later, and Klaus sets down the knife he was using to practice sparring with Peeta.

(When Klaus first joined Katniss' squad a few months ago, he'd gotten to know Peeta. And he'd realized that Peeta, though the best boyfriend Katniss could have asked for- grounded, kind man, good with emotions and words- would have made a terrible tribute. Only after a few months of knife training from Diego and occasionally Klaus was Peeta deemed decent enough to go into back-up combat with the Victor's Squad- he would have died before the end of the second day in the Arena.)

"Meet you guys at dinner," Klaus says, "I gotta go to the Command center."

"Mind bringing Claire with you, Five, and Diego to dinner tonight?" Peeta asks. "Katniss' mom and sister are eating with the squad tonight, and you know how much Katniss' mom loves Claire."

"If the lady says yes, then of course we'll bring her," Klaus says with a wink, already knowing that Claire will say yes. She's never missed an opportunity to eat with the Victors' Squad and her "Uncles" Klaus, Five, and Diego. Then Klaus turns and leaves.

A few minutes later, Klaus enters the control room and nearly faints. There, in front of him, are a gaunt Allison and Luther, with Allison's hair shorn short on one side and a bandage covering the side of her head. Luther has scars visible on his chest that horrifyingly resemble whipping scars.

But they're alive, and that's all that matters for now. They're alive, and they're out of the Capitol's grasp. 

"Holy shit," Diego says, having entered the room moments after Klaus, stopping right by Klaus' side.

"What the fuck is going on-" Five asks, and Klaus knows the moment that he sees Allison and Luther because his words cut off and a second later, Five is rushing past Diego and Klaus to Allison and Luther. He stops right in front of them, as if uncertain about touching them, but Allison steps forward and pulls him into a hug. Five doesn't quite relax against her, but he does unstiffen slightly and swing his arms up to hug her awkwardly.

Klaus is suddenly reminded that Five is just sixteen, by far the youngest of any of them. He's a killer, just like them, but he's still a child, and they're what approximates his family. A group of killers and monsters- they're the closest thing Five has to siblings and parents and relatives.

And to be honest, there's some comfort in that, because Five is their family as much as they are his. 

But then Klaus looks away from Allison and Five and over to Luther, and-

Shit. Luther's not smiling.

"Luther, what the fuck's going on?" Klaus asks.

"It's Ben," Luther says, voice quiet, and Klaus' heart drops as Five pulls back from Allison. Oh fuck no-

"He's confirmed dead. His body was found torn up by a mutt in the Arena."

Klaus lets out a strangled groan, tears springing to his eyes. He'd thought he'd braced himself for bad news, but no- he couldn't have braced himself for this. Not Ben, not his mentor and best friend and basically housemate. Not the man who never had anything but a gentle smile and a small quip for everyone, the man who had suffered through more failed mentees than any of the Victors currently here.

"Well, he died for a good reason," Five says, and Klaus kind of wants to scream that there was never a good reason for Ben's death, that he deserved to have a happy life after all the misery he lived through, but Klaus can see the look on Five's face, the barely disguised grief, and so he shuts his mouth.

"I'm sorry, Klaus," Luther says, and Allison reaches out a hand to Klaus' shoulder. 

Then the door behind them opens, and Klaus' broken heart must be seeing ghosts because the man he sees in a stained white uniform- the familiar uniform of the Avoxes in the Capitol- is dead. He's been dead for two years.

"That can't be right," Klaus mutters, but Luther's not paying attention to Klaus' comments. Instead, he's turning to look at the ghost in the corner of the room.

"Oh, that's Dave," Luther says, "He's an Avox that came with us. Allison introduced us- she said his name was Dave, and that he was from District 8. Said he was absolutely dedicated to the rebel cause. He's been the only person who we've really been able to trust over the past few months."

Dave smiles at Klaus- that fucking bright smile, with the lips that Klaus can remember kissing him through that one, beautiful year, and he waves. He signs something small with his hands, and Luther says, "Dave says that he..." Luther's brow furrows. "He says that he missed you." Luther turns to look at Klaus. "Wait, you know Dave?"

But Klaus is already on his way past Allison and Luther and over to the ghost in the corner.

"Dave?" Klaus asks, and Ben is dead, but now Dave isn't. He was just hidden in the Capitol by President Hargreeves, who knew (because of those damn cameras, those Peacekeepers, all of his spies) that without Dave, Klaus was content to whore himself out to President Hargreeves' Capitolites.

(Klaus can, unfortunately, imagine what Dave has gone through over the past couple of years. Klaus knows- from his years spent in the Capitol- what they do to Avoxes, the way they cut out tongues and often do a number of cosmetic surgeries to made the Avoxes conform to whatever their Capitolite owner's grotesque idea of beauty was.)

"Show me how to talk to you, please," Klaus says, and Dave moves his hands through a few curves. "What does that mean?" Dave holds out his index finger and points it at Klaus' chest. "That's me?" Dave smiles and nods, then holds out a hand to Klaus, and Klaus not only takes Dave's hand but pulls him into a full body hug, allowing Klaus to clutch him tight for the first time in two years. He is hugging a ghost who is no longer a ghost, a man he'd loved and thought was dead but turned out not to be.

Klaus thinks he might be crying right now, but he doesn't care. He has Dave back, alive and here, in District 13. Dave clutches him tightly as well, holding tight as a dying man (something Klaus knows all too well).

(Beneath his fingers, Klaus notes with a Victor's- or, more specifically, a thief's- eye all that has changed. Dave's muscles have been redistributed slightly, the callouses on his hands and the small scar smoothed away by surgery. It's almost sickening how the Capitol has erased all the marks that Klaus used to kiss, used to worship in bed- all the scars that made Dave human and not just a plaything of the Capitol.)

Behind him, Diego asks, "What d'you mean, Allison?"

"Shit," Luther says, "She's asking about Claire."

"Oh, we've been visiting her for a few months, now," Klaus says, peeling himself back slightly from Dave. He slides his hands down to Dave's hands, where he holds Dave's left hand in his right. Klaus isn't letting go of Dave anytime soon.

Allison moves her fingers, and Luther translates, "She's asking when we can go see Claire."

"We're having dinner with her tonight," Klaus says, and Diego raises an eyebrow at Klaus. "Peeta asked about it." Klaus doesn't even need a translator to read the question in Allison's face. "Peeta is Katniss' boyfriend. We have dinner with them and Katniss' family about twice a week."

This- talking to Allison and Luther about Claire, holding Dave's hand, standing with Five and Diego- this feels normal. This keeps Klaus from dwelling on Ben's death, about another ghost that will haunt Klaus' dreams at night.

Then Five speaks up. "What about Vanya?" he asks, and they all turn to the kid. 

Here's the thing about Five that Klaus has always known, but that is sometimes far too easy to forget: he is a killer, yes, but he's also a boy who cares far too much about the six of them, for most of the same reasons Klaus does.

"We don't know where she is," Luther says, voice apologetic, "But we did hear vague rumors of sightings of her in District 4- you know, where the Quarter Quell was held."

Five's expression doesn't change much- if anyone has a good poker face, it's this kid- but his shoulders relax just slightly. "So she might be alive."

"She might be, yeah," Luther says.

"Oh thank god," Diego says, breathing out a sigh of relief, and yes, one of their family is dead, but five of them are here, plus Claire. Vanya might be alive out there somewhere. There's a good possibility that soon, Klaus will be able to have nearly all of his family here and alive and happy.

(One can only hope.)

-

That night, Dave curls up with Klaus in his bunk in the Victors' room. Dave holds him, Klaus curled up in his arms, as he sobs, nightmares of Ben's death shaking him awake. 

Ben's dead. He's never coming back. Klaus' mentor and best friend is gone permanently, now, and Klaus is going to have to learn to live with it.

This is war. This is a rebellion. People Klaus loves are going to die. It won't just be tributes he barely knows or boys he's spent a year falling in love with- this will be the little family he has gathered to himself over the years, the people who should have been safe because they won their Games, they became killers in order to stay survivors.

Ben was the first- he probably won't be the last.

(But as Klaus lays here, Dave's living, warm breath against his neck, a savage love rises in his throat. He doesn't want anyone else to die. He wants to keep as many people as he can alive, wants to give them the happy ending Ben always promised him.

Klaus wants to turn Ben's false promises of hope into reality.)

-

The next day, Klaus introduces Dave to the soldiers in Katniss' squad, who welcome him with as open arms as they did Diego and Klaus. No wonder- Dave may be mute, but he's still a strong man who's more than willing to recallous his hands and work as much as needed. 

They're going to win this rebellion, for Ben and Claire and Dave and Vanya and Five and Luther and Diego and Allison and every tribute that Klaus has watched die in the Arena. They're going to win this Rebellion for the memories of the dead, for the future of the living, for the dreams of every District citizen since the very first Uprisings began.

President Hargreeves better bring his best to the table- Klaus will not let anyone, especially Ben, die in vain.

Here's three fingers raised to the rebellion, and his middle finger to the President.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a different style of writing than the past two stories, with far more dialogue, but I hope you guys still enjoyed it. Comments are always appreciated, whether positive or constructive criticism- feel free to leave or even a kudos if you enjoyed the work!


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